Micromechanical modelling of pervious concrete reinforced with treated fibres

Abstract

Pervious concrete has been widely used in parking lots and airport fields. However, excessive cracking and spalling issues of pervious concrete remain a challenge for its adoption in wider applications, since its binding material proportion is low and the use of fine aggregates is nearly zero. When loaded in compression, failure appears first in the weak concrete zone, induced by the random distribution of voids. The process continues until failure of the whole specimen. Fibre-reinforcement delays crack generation and enhances the strength of the host matrix. However, the bonding mechanism between the fibre and concrete matrix is a controversy in the literature. In this study, the influence of polypropylene fibre inclusion on the strength and stiffness of pervious concrete microstructure was studied through delicate interface modelling. Two-dimensional microstructures of pervious concrete were generated using Matlab and Ansys parametric design languages. A cohesive-zone technique was then used to model the interface between fibres and the concrete matrix. Load–displacement plots were thus obtained in Ansys for specimens under compression for various void–fibre percentages and different treated interface properties.